Gianni Vio – Opinion

I recall the wise words of a chap sitting behind me in our 2-1 defeat at Goodison Park in 2013: upon receiving a corner at 0-0, the exasperated bloke merely threw his arms up in the air, screaming, “Save everyone 90 seconds and just give Everton a goal-kick!” One suspects that he was simply echoing the thoughts of many a Spurs fan that evening, and for many years to come.

I’m not calling him an oracle, but the chap was right in pointing out the deficiencies in Spurs’ set-piece repertoire. It’s tempting to long for Modric – and believe me, I do – but he could hardly beat the first man from a corner. Even Eriksen’s free-kick prowess was borderline mythical. Nowadays, whether it’s an ill-timed short corner, or Kane greeting row Z or Dier hitting the wall from a promising free-kick, the picture hasn’t improved.

The defensive situation is even less reassuring. Messrs Reguilon, Royal, Sessegnon and Doherty all generally take an hour to resume play from a defensive throw-in, and when they do EVENTUALLY release the ball, possession is lost in an instant. Fixtures against set-piece worshippers like West Ham blatantly disturb the likes of Davies and Sanchez. I still get the occasional nightmare of Huth’s header at WHL. Past trips to Stoke and Bolton would see some promising attacking displays undone by weak defending of corners and long throw-ins.

Therefore, I am delighted that we have finally addressed what has been a glaring issue in our set-up for an eternity by appointing Vio.